


Adaptive Content

by Im_Not_A_Robot



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Comics), Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Imprisonment, Internal Conflict, M/M, Slow To Update, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-10 22:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20535791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Im_Not_A_Robot/pseuds/Im_Not_A_Robot
Summary: When Metal's hatred of Sonic begins to grow out of control to the point of growing disobedient, Eggman, in the effort to prevent something like Neo Metal Sonic from happening again, tries to reprogram the robot back to total servitude. But when he realizes that the badnik has become self-ware enough to block his attempts, the scientist, not wanting to have to resort to destroying his greatest creation, seeks help from the unlikeliest of individuals. Sonic and Tails are 'employed' to rehabilitate Metal Sonic in the hopes of ensuring that another bout of metal terror doesn't occur. Meanwhile they develop their own secret agenda of convincing the robot to abandon his loyalty to Eggman and join Team Sonic to become one of the heroes, seeking to use his powerful capabilities for good. Will the robot be willing to put aside his desires for malicious power in favour of bringing good to the world? Or will he continue down the seemingly inevitable road of malevolent intentions and destruction?





	1. Chapter 1

"This is preposterous!" an angry voice yelled throughout the chamber. "No matter what I try he simply won't allow me to alter his code!" Doctor Robotnik, aka 'Eggman', struggled to maintain his blood pressure over the sheer nerve of his own creation refusing to abide to his whim as per the machine's initial programming.

Sonic and Tails, off to the side, observed the bound mech in the centre of the room, a multitude of chains keeping a highly agitated Metal Sonic at bay. Glowing red eyes pierced into the very souls of the three characters as the robot twitched occasionally with bottled up rage. Metal was brought here for 'repairs' after he deliberately disobeyed Eggman's orders to remain in the base, seeking out and initiating an uncalled-for battle with Sonic The Hedgehog. Normally such a reason for insubordination would've been something the doctor let slide since he's always trying to destroy the blue annoyance anyways, but the behaviour is all too recognizable from events prior to Metal's extreme overtaking as Neo Metal Sonic.

Eggman waited for Metal to return after his inevitable defeat by Sonic, as despite the robot's growing hatred of the scientist he knows that the only one capable of repairing him is his creator, thus he'll always come crawling back no matter how much the badnik wishes to tear the man limb from limb. As soon as Metal returned, Eggman quickly got to work in repairing him. Metal was made to believe that being chained down was to 'stabilize' him for repairs but he didn't realize that Eggman had secretly disabled his long-range weapons in the midst of them and caught on too late that he wasn't just chained down to be fixed, but reprogrammed as well.

Metal was furious in this revelation. The chains just barely managed to hold him back as he strained against them with the intention of gutting the man before him as he constantly fought off and blocked out code after code that the doctor tried to force into his A.I via the main room console. Robotnik grew frustrated upon this discovery that Metal Sonic was countering his attempts. He doesn't understand why the robot keeps gaining self-awareness overtime to the extent of overriding his commands and he's struggled to pinpoint the source code to solve the problem. He thought he had fixed it after Neo Metal Sonic, but apparently not...

With none of his efforts to reprogram working, Eggman had to resort to some desperate measures to avoid having to destroy his creation as there MUST be some way to fix this. He called upon the two individuals he would never have even bothered calling if it weren't for them being the only ones who might be capable of solving this. The hedgehog and fox actually took it rather seriously and rushed over considering Eggman would never call them for help unless it was truly serious; they had still kept their guard up for the first while upon their arrival though in case of a trap.

As soon as Sonic had entered the room, Metal became much more alive and hostile, breaking one of the chains... thankfully there being several more that continued to hold him in place as he pulled against them with claws at the ready towards the blue blur. The issue was apparent but despite even Tails trying to assist with methods and ways of putting the code through into Metal's system, nothing was getting past the machine's systematic barriers.

"You realize this is because of all those times you've reprogrammed him in the past, right?" Sonic, arms crossed with impatience, remarked to the evil genius who turned around, gritting his teeth.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" the man retorted.

"Well obviously if I learned that someone was constantly altering my mind and personality for enslavement, I'd want to stop it too." the hedgehog frowned.

Tails stepped in between the two. "Guys, we really need to figure out what we're going to do. He already broke one of those chains, we can't hold him here forever."

Sonic and Eggman looked to him before the scientist straightened his posture more professionally. "The fox is right... we need to do something about this before it becomes an even bigger problem. I don't want to have to destroy him, it takes forever to rebuild him from the ground up, not to the mention the learning algorithms take so long to get right. Unfortunately it's just that he's learned too much over such a long period of time.... "

The chains rattled as Metal once again strained against them towards Sonic, eyes beaming with underlying intentions of violence. The robot sounded a series of electronic noises at the three, claws twitching to maim.

Sonic brought a hand to his chin in thought. "You know..." he started. "This would probably be much easier if he could talk... "  
Eggman and Tails turned to him with looks of confusion. "What good is that supposed to do? It won't help us reprogram him." Tails stated.

"Well... " the hedgehog continued, hands now resting on his hips. "Maybe we need to try something more... open minded?"

Eggman hummed in consideration. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

Sonic turned towards Metal, the two locking eyes. "I mean... we could just try talking to him. If treating him like a mindless machine isn't working, and he's not really behaving like a mindless machine, then maybe we should be doing this like we would with, say.... a person?"

The scientist and fox looked at each other before turning back to Sonic. Tails scratched his head "You know... that doesn't sound like a bad idea. We were so focused on the whole mechanical aspect that we forgot to take into consideration that this is happening because he's acting more self-aware, not because there's some kind of technological error.... but... I don't know how well it would work because we don't even know just how _much_ he's aware. He could seem to be acting of free will in some areas but then the next you might have a preprogrammed response or action to something else." the fox lowered his ears. "In other words, he's kind of unpredictable."

Eggman had stepped away to return to the console, staring at the display screen of several strings of coding with a discontented look. "I still can't believe this is happening again. And after I thought I had fixed the problem." he sharply turned more aggressively to the two. "What _is_ it with this one robot out of ALL the other ones that keeps coming back to bite me with all this..... self-aware garbage!" the man stomped over to Metal whose red eyes glowered upon the man's approach. "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SERVE ME! I AM YOUR MASTER, I CREATED YOU AND GAVE YOU LIFE, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO OBEY ME!"

Metal lunged at the man against his chains, causing the scientist to leap back with a pathetic squeak of fear. Sonic and Tails both narrowed their eyes at Eggman for being so arrogant and stupid. The man cleared his throat and regained his composure. "... Anyway... THAT right there is the kind of behaviour that occurred before the events of Neo Metal Sonic. Just how exactly do you two plan to fix it by 'talking' to him?" he crossed his arms.

Sonic scratched the back of his head, not entirely sure. "Hmm... maybe.... well you see.... this is all about me isn't it?" he sighed. "The last time with Neo Metal Sonic the entire thing happened because he's so dangerously obsessed with defeating me and proving some sort of superiority. I doubt anything is different this time. I mean we all saw his reaction when I entered the room."

Tails looked to the ground. "Yeah... if we're going to fix this... " the fox began.

"I'll rehabilitate him." Sonic added in.

Eggman and Tails looked to him with surprise. The fox displayed his concern "What are you talking about? You're probably the last one here who could potentially even do that, you're the reason why he's even acting like this."

"Exactly. So I have to be the one to fix it." the hedgehog smirked scratching under his nose.

Tails' ears lowered in concern. "I don't know about this..."

Eggman huffed. "By all means, get yourself killed... I've exhausted all of my own resources and I don't have time to counsel a rogue robot. If you can get him under control with your ridiculous idea, then maybe I'll admit I was wrong."

Sonic smiled. "Proving people wrong is second-nature to me." he stated smugly, earning an irritated look from his enemy. "But first things first... I'm really gonna need him to talk.... can you somehow get a voice modulator into him?"

Eggman paused for a moment, wondering if this was actually even worth considering as in the end it could all just be one big waste of time. However he figured his options were very, very thin now. The man exhaled sharply.

"... I'll see what I can do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a spontaneous concept that I had sitting around for a while collecting dust. I finally decided to write it out, though it's far more detailed and well written than my initial draft. I honestly don't know what I'll be doing with this story, even despite the indication of the tags. Don't expect this to be updated very frequently, or even touched again really... but I'll put it out here just in case. Most of my free time is put towards working on stories for Metonic Ship Week near the end of this month, but I may get around to this one occasionally.


	2. Chapter 2

It took much longer than it should've to provide Metal Sonic the means of vocal capability. Fortunately, Eggman had already built the means of such within Metal during his initial construction, but the doctor had deemed it's purpose moot mid-build and scrapped the idea, leaving the module inactive. Metal had previously used this same voice chip in his Neo Metal Sonic form having discovered it's presence within his system during transformation and using it to his own ends for communication.

Eggman had since deactivated it again when he recovered the robot after his defeat, removing it completely from his system as he theorized that being able to talk was part of Metal developing a sentient personality, which he didn't want. Since it turns out that this is not the case, he might as well place it back in again.

The issue with re-implementing it this time around was due to the machine's uncooperative behaviour. Even when the three tried to explain and console that they were just reinstalling his voice capabilities, Metal deemed it some kind of trap. It actually took convincing from Tails when he allowed the robot to scan the chip in order to confirm they were stating the truth before Metal allowed them to configure it into his system.

Eggman was just finishing up the last connecting wires through the robot's open central core. "This should work again as it had before, but I'm not entirely certain if it will function the same. Metal Sonic's had a couple of upgrades since his last use of the chip, it could potentially be out of date with his software, but I guess there's no harm in trying it anyways."

The man was already having doubts about his idea of getting the annoying chipper blue hedgehog and his two-tailed friend involved in all of this. He much rather would've tried to fix this whole thing himself, but unfortunately his only other option is one he wants to avoid. Metal Sonic is his greatest creation and he's kept the initial build and saved algorithms all these years since his creation day. He'd be lying if he said he didn't value his robot to some degree, thus he didn't want to destroy him if he didn't have to.

"There." the villain closed up the core and stood back next to Sonic and Tails.

The three just watched expectantly with suspense as Metal only stared silently at them, waiting for him to say something to see if the module even functioned. But he was just silent.

"... Well...?" Sonic started, breaking the silence. "Aren't you going to try and say something?" he crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently at his duplicate, still hanging precariously from his binding chains.

"**The only thing worth saying to you, **_**Sonic**_**, is a deliberate farewell to your dying form.**" his voice was haunting in tone as he practically spat out the name 'Sonic' with venom.

Sonic lowered an ear and shrugged. "Well it's nice to know you still care so deeply about me." the robot strained against his chains towards him aggressively again at this.

The hedgehog pouted before turning to Tails. "At least the voice works. But... I didn't really think this far in..." he scratched at his head with a guilty and nervous smile. "How exactly should we even go about this?"

The fox sighed, a disgruntled looking Eggman huffing behind him. "You mean you don't even know what you're doing with him yet?" Robotnik grumbled knowing he should've expected this from a rebellious nuisance who seems to improvise his way through life.

Tails tilted his head, looking towards the mech in thought. "I think first we need to find some way to neutralize him..."

"Neutralize him?" Sonic questioned. Metal was glowering at them over this.

Tails nodded. "Yeah, we obviously can't just risk trusting him in this state Sonic, as much as you want to. We need some means of being able to keep him under control."

"**Don't even think of trying to bind me to your will. You are all the same, just trying to make me another puppet.**" the electronic voice echoed through the room, the mech's displeasure evident in tone.

Sonic laid his ears back sorrowfully towards his rival. "Metal, we just want to help you. You're letting this hatred consume you and it's going to end up being your total destruction if you allow it to keep growing out of control."

"**I don't need your help! I don't need anybody's help!**" Metal pulled against his bindings once again, the growing fragility of the chains sending a wave of concern through the trio as the links cracked and bent with each subsequent strain against them.

Tails looked to Sonic, gesturing frantically. "Sonic, we have to think of something quick, we can't keep him here forever! We need some place more secure."

Sonic bit his lip nervously, his thoughts racing a mile a minute, but Eggman was the one to speak up. "I could help you build a containment unit of sorts to hold him captive, but the means of neutralizing him will be up to you and your fox friend. In the event this goes bust and he goes completely rogue again, at least with a structured cell he'll be securely contained."

The blue speedster rubbed the back of his neck releasing a sigh. "I don't wanna... make him our prisoner." he lowered his ears, his gaze shifting to a spot on the floor.

"But what choice do we have Sonic?" Tails tried to help his friend understand their situation. "If we're really going to try and help him, we're going to have to be drastic in safety measures."

Sonic was evidently saddened about this. He wants to help Metal, but he doesn't want to be malicious about it. He looked up to the robot who seemed to be trembling with overloaded energy levels of hatred. The chains were starting to look worse for wear and unfortunately Tails was right, they really can't hold him here forever.

The blue blur turned his attention to Eggman. "How exactly is this whole 'cell' going to work?"

The man folded his hands behind his back as he paced over to the console. "I know all of the schematics and materials that Metal Sonic is made out of. I can properly construct a secure chamber that will hold him without risk of breach, granted you don't do something stupid..." he glared over his shoulder at the hedgehog.

He then turned to fully face the two mobians. "It would be preferable that it's built underground as an extra precaution... I can have my robots construct it wherever you think will be best, but you'd better make sure you are 100% certain it's where you want it. I'm not going to just keep wasting resources on this ridiculous idea of yours."

Sonic and Tails looked at each other, the hedgehog being the one to shrug first. "Where _should_ we put it?"

The fox tilted his head, bringing a finger to his chin in thought. "Well... we still need to build a means to neutralize him and I'll need to test some concepts. I don't want it to be a hassle if something happens to him and he needs repairing, so somewhere close by my workshop would probably be best."

Sonic smiled, crossing his arms. "Makes sense to me."

Tails' face grew a little more wary. "But.... I don't want to risk something going wrong, so it might be preferable that we don't use my main workshop with the Tornado near our house. Maybe we can use my other workshop in the woods by the ruins?"

The hedgehog lowered a brow. "Wouldn't that be more inconvenient for the both of us? He'll be too far away to keep a close eye on." Meanwhile Metal was silently watching this altercation, processing everything they've said and already trying to figure a way out of this inevitable further captivity.

Robotnik grit his teeth. "Would you two make up your mind already? I don't have all day."

Tails looked around in thought, scratching his head. "Okay uhh.... umm..." he sighed. "Okay... we'll go with the main workshop. I guess it would be better since all of my tools and equipment are already there... I still don't think he should be too close to it though. Maybe a spot in the woods near by? It's going to be underground anyways."

Sonic nodded. "Then it's settled. Why don't we head on out of here and find the perfect spot then. Egghead might as well bring his construction bots with us too anyways. We need to get this done as soon as possible." he looked to Metal who'd been staring at them silently the whole time.

"... Figured with how grandiose he was last time he could talk we'd have a hard time getting him to shut up, but he's barely said a word..." Sonic quipped, earning a static-like growl from the mech.

"Don't antagonize him Sonic." Tails scolded the speedster before turning to Eggman. "Are you sure those chains will hold him while we're out building the containment?"

The man hummed as he looked over the chains. "I'll reinforce them before I leave, now GET OUT OF HERE!" he angrily demanded them, the two frowned at him before making their way out of the base.

Tails hopped into the Tornado, Sonic following suit upon the back of it, the two eventually flying off back to their residential area.

-

The ocean waved below them as they soared through the blue skies. Sonic laid back against the plane, folding his hands behind his head as he watched the clouds just above them. "So... do you think this will actually work out?" he questioned above the plane's engine.

"You know, for this whole thing being your idea Sonic you haven't been sounding too confident about it." Tails replied.

"Well... I really do want to help him you know? He's been a pain in my quills for years but you know how I've never blamed him for the way he is right?" Sonic rolled to rest on his side, looking to Tails as the fox focused on piloting the plane. "Usually he's just a bunch of programmed directives, but every time he shows some kind of personality.... it's just... I can't help but feel like there's somebody underneath all those wires and circuits that's capable of suffering, ya know? Makes me feel bad for him a bit..." he lowered his ears.

Tails glanced over his shoulder to Sonic with a sympathetic smile. "I know you've always been the caring type Sonic, but it still surprises me when you bother to care about things like robots and machines..."

The hedgehog looked slightly shamed by this. "Yeah, I know... I'm weird I guess..." he looked away.

"No, no." Tails turned back to focusing on his piloting, a smile forming over his muzzle. "... It actually reminds me of myself..." he reassured his friend, the hedgehog looking to him with slight surprise before smiling as well.

"... Thanks Tails."

-

The two eventually arrived home and began their task of finding the perfect spot to build the containment. Sonic scratching under his nose as he left most of it to Tails in determining a proper location around the small wooded clearing not too far from the workshop.

"I'm not sure just how big Eggman planned this thing to be so... maybe you don't have to look _that_ stressed about it." he smirked as Tails was knelt upon the grass surrounded by 20 measuring tools.

The fox turned to his friend, scratching his head embarrassingly with a laugh. "I guess you're right... I just want to make sure everything is as perfect as can be. It's not every day we have to contain a killer robot that's nearly taken over the planet before; it's kind of out of my league."

Sonic tapped his foot with a smile. "We'll leave all that junk to Egghead, all we need to do is figure out where to put it, that's all."

Tails gathered his tools and placed them into a backpack before standing to his feet. "You're right, you're right. Well, this spot seems to be the best location. It's not too obvious either in case someone happens upon it...."

"You mean like Knuckles?" the hedgehog chuckled. "That guy seems to always find his way into trouble with Eggman's belongings.

"Yeah well, let's hope we can try to keep this a secret from the others for now.... I don't want to risk them getting hurt." the fox grabbed the backpack and started making his way back to his workshop. "We should probably get ready for Eggman's arrival, I'm not exactly sure how he plans on bringing a little army of building bots here."

Sonic followed after his friend as they slipped past the forest edge back to the coastal area. "Yeah well, knowing him he'll probably go above and beyond."

As if on cue a loud series of massive jets thundered above them, slowly getting louder. The two looked up to see the massive front of the Egg Carrier slowly revealing from the clouds towards them. Tails' jaw dropped in shock and Sonic flattened his ears, eyes half-lidded.

"Really?..." he monotonously stated.

The gigantic ship slowly lowered to the coast grounds to hover above, the wind driving up a small hurricane as trees bent to the powerful gusts. Sonic and Tails shielded their eyes from flying debris, a large green beam of light cast down to the ground followed by a long string of robots descending one by one.

Each of them automatically lined up beside one another in a formation before 30 robots were standing before them. The beam then brought down several massive slabs and plates of metal, scraps and materials before the beam retreated back to the ship. Eggman flew down in his eggmobile, swerving in his descent before landing it onto the sand.

The man cleared his throat. "Sonic, Tails, you both remember the Egg Carrier?" he put prideful emphasis on 'Egg Carrier' as he stepped out of his vehicle and spread out an arm towards the ship. "It's been newly reconstructed and renovated with a flawless design. Truly the work of a genius, wouldn't you agree?" he placed his hands on his hips, grinning towards the two.

Sonic and Tails were squinting up at the airship, tilting their heads one way, then tilting them to the other as if they couldn't quite tell what Eggman was talking about; it looked exactly the same since they last saw it.

The villain dropped his arms with a deadpan expression towards their reactions. "Well, I guess you'd have to see it from the inside." he admitted. The ship powered it's massive jets again before slowly flying back to his head quarters, disappearing into the clouds.

Tails had gotten distracted, examining one of the robots lined up in formation. "I've never seen these before, are they new?" he grabbed onto one of the robots hands to take a closer look, noticing with fascination as he pressed some buttons on the arm that switched the hand over to a variety of intricate tools.

"H-hey! Don't touch it!" he shooed the fox away disgruntled. "It's not a toy!" the man huffed.

Sonic walked up to the two. "So, these guys are going to build that, uh...." he tried coming up with a friendlier word to use. "Room?"

Eggman nodded. "Yes, and they're packed and ready to do it all night if they have to with extra battery power."

Sonic flattened his ears at this, wondering if he'll have to sleep through the noise of construction all night. "Right... well let's hope they're faster than that."

The man waved a hand. "Anyways... did you pick out a location?"

Tails nodded to him. "Yeah we did actually." he lead the scientist to the clearing in the woods they scoped out earlier, Sonic following at them, his eyes watching the robots that seemed to remain in place.

Eggman hummed in thought as he groomed his moustache, overlooking the clearing. "Hmm.... we're going to need to cut down a few trees...." he stated. "But other than that, are you SURE this is where you want it?"

Sonic and Tails glanced at one another before nodding to the man. Tails speaking up "Yeah, we spent over an hour making sure it was right and have determined that this is the perfect spot. It's not too close and not too far."

The scientist crossed his arms, thinking for a moment if he truly believed their confidence or not. "Hm... well alright. We start immediately then!" he clapped his hands and almost instantly Sonic and Tails nearly lost their balance as swarms of the robots suddenly rushed past them and immediately began digging, while several others started cutting down trees.

Robotnik looked on with a grin. "Ahh.... the sweet sound of industrialism." Tails and Sonic looked at him through furrowed brows as they dusted off the dirt the robots had kicked up when running by them.

The fox crossed his arms. "Well.... I think this is where I head to my workshop and begin testing out some concepts and theories in neutralizing Metal. Sonic you want to join me?" he looked to his spiny friend.

Sonic had a face of slight concern as he watched the robots dig out the chamber. "Uh.. I don't really trust that Egghead here isn't going to try anything funny... so I think I'll stay here and keep watch." Eggman shot a glance to the hedgehog, his smile instantly dropping to a frown.

The fox nodded. "Alright, I won't be far if you need me." he made his way through the trees back to his workshop.

Sonic crossed his arms, flashing a glare to the villain next to him. "So, Eggman... you wanna run by me just how this thing will be built?"

The man grumbled, crossing his own arms in response. "You know, sometimes your distrust of me can hurt. Regardless, I'm going to have my robots here build a cellular structure of layered steel and titanium alloy. It'll be roughly over 100 ft down, and the... 'room'... itself will be very sizable in case you decide to implement your own ideas of something to be added. The walls need to be incredibly thick to prevent Metal Sonic from breaking through, so there's that."

Sonic's ear twitched as he turned his emerald eyes back to the robots that had already dug a sizable hole in the ground, the speedster glad that they're working fast. He cast down his gaze, deciding if his next question was even worth asking.

"... Why'd you never give up on Metal even after he betrayed you?"

Eggman actually seemed kind of surprised by the unexpected question. He refused to make any eye-contact as he continued to observe his robots. "That's something even you wouldn't understand Sonic."

Sonic smirked. "Try me."

The man sneered. "Don't bother yourself with such ridiculous curiousities and quit sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. Such things are none of your concern."

Sonic's smirk fell. He had no idea why Eggman was so defensive about this but he decided not to press any further.

The construction went well on into the day and further into the late afternoon. Sonic had offered Eggman to eat lunch with him and Tails but the man declined stating he brought his own. The robots diligently smelted and worked with the metal materials provided to them, perfectly measured by Robotnik himself. With the cell finally constructed they had begun working on the stairway down to it. It wasn't until the very late evening that they finished the foundation constructs and finally began to fill everything back in with dirt, one particular robot gleefully taking it upon himself to pretty up the surface with fresh rolls of grass.

Sonic, Tails and Eggman as well as all 30 robots that lined up again in formation looked upon the finished entrance. A large metal door of sorts in the ground upon a platform with hazard markings.

Sonic shrugged to Tails. "Maybe we can put some kind of green tarp over it?" the fox shrugged back.

"My work here is done." Eggman pat his hands together dusting off any dirt from his gloves. "How about a tour inside?" he grinned at the two who eyed him warily before following after him to the entrance.

Eggman stepped in and the three made their way down the stairs. "I hope you don't mind but I usurped some energy from the grid of your workshop generator to power these lights." he referred to the dotting fluorescent spots along the stairway that lit up their path.

"I mean... I was probably going to do it myself anyways if I'm honest." the fox stated, surveying the lights.

They eventually stopped at a small area at the bottom of the stairs, a large thick metal door with various lock mechanisms and a small glass panel on it to look inside standing before them. Eggman showed them through observation how to unlock it and swung open the door to reveal the empty chamber inside.

"It's a bit darker in here because the connection to the generator's not so good this far underground... perhaps you can deal with that yourself." he crossed his arms, allowing the two to peer inside.

It was just an empty metal chamber, nothing in it but 4 walls of thick plated metal as well as the floor and ceiling. "Let's just hope it works..." Sonic hinted concern in his voice, keeping to himself for now how dreadful it looked and how he knows _he__'d_ hate being locked up in something like this... he tried not to think too much about it. This was necessary.

"Of course it will work!" Eggman practically yelled at the lack of confidence in his abilities. The man then closed the door and began making his way back up, the two following behind.

Back outside the sun was almost set below the horizon. Sonic and Tails stepped out after the scientist and closed the entrance, locking it for the time being.

"Now all we gotta do is get Metal inside..." Tails tilted his head. "... somehow..." he scratched his head.

Sonic smiled. "We'll figure it out, but let's just try and get him in there before it gets too late. Then we can deal with him tomorrow while he gets used to his accommodations."

The fox nodded. "Right." he then turned to Eggman. "Let's head back to your base and get Metal."

Eggman waved a hand at them. "You don't command me _fox_.... but yes, let's head back. The Egg Carrier will take too long to get here but I've already set it on route to pick up the robots, so they should be gone by the time you get back here with Metal Sonic. In the meantime I'll lead the way in my eggmobile and you just follow me in your little toy plane."

Sonic shook his head, Tails frowning at this but deciding not to comment. The two mobians made their way to the Tornado and hopped inside, soon taking off after the scientist as they continued on route back to the base.

Upon arrival they made their way through the base halls, Sonic voicing his thoughts to his friend as they followed Eggman back to where Metal was being held. "Do you think that maybe we can convince him somehow? We already tried shutting him down before when Eggman was trying to reprogram him... it doesn't work. I just want to avoid a massive unnecessary fight if I can, ya know?"

The two-tailed fox's eyes seemed to shift around, as if trying to come up with his own ideas. "Well... maybe.... but I have a feeling we're going to just have to try and force him somehow. We already know we can keep him bound at least, we might have to just go through with that and find a means to transport him to the cell."

Sonic lowered his ears. "Hmm..."

Eggman punched a code into the door that lead to the room where the robot was being held. "If you ask me, I'd say just use one of my other robots perhaps to move him... I'd have to think up just which one though." he stood aside allowing the two to head in before him.

"That might work." Tails wondered.

The three headed in to face the mech and figure out how to go about this, but Sonic and Tails halted in their tracks, faces betraying sudden shock.

The chains dangled from the ceiling...

and Metal was gone.


End file.
